Retiring Exeter officer's favorite role: mentoring youth

Thursday

May 3, 2018 at 5:19 PMMay 3, 2018 at 5:20 PM

Alex LaCasse @Nomad_Reports

EXETER — Police officer Dan D'Amato said his favorite part of his job was mentoring young people he helped in his more than two decades working for the Exeter Police Department, the majority serving as the high school resource officer.

He said one of the highlights of his career was further developing the Exeter Police Explorers Program, which has given adolescents in the area a first exposure to a law enforcement career or a career as a first responder. Many of his protégés have gone on to have successful law enforcement careers from state police agencies, to municipal police departments, to Military Police. Police Chief William Shupe credited D'Amato with building the program into what it is today.

“For me it was always about mentoring, I would tell kids interested in firefighting to join us because there were no fire explorers and we'll let them live in the program and if they don't like it, that's fine, they're getting great experience,” D'Amato said. “We've done car safety, crosswalk safety, the science of what a bullet actually does when it impacts different objects and a lot more, so I tried to make it an all-around program. It's taking a bunch of different personalities and get 10 kids working together.”

On Monday, D'Amato officially retired from the Exeter police force after 23 years of service and was honored with a luncheon with town officials, members of the police and fire departments, and his family.

D'Amato said as a high school student in Salem, Mass., he knew he wanted to be a part of “something bigger than himself” and with the help of a friend's father, who was a Delta pilot, he enrolled in the Delta Air Explorers Program. He also began canine demonstrations at local malls, which piqued his interest in military service. He began his military career in the Air Force as a dog handler and would go on to serve 20 years.

“That was the start of me wanting to be part of something larger than myself,” D'Amato said. “When I got out of the military, I knew I wanted to stay in a career where I was a part of something and I was hired part-time as an officer in Newmarket and shortly afterwards I was hired in Exeter and I've been here since 1995.”

As part of D'Amato's retirement ceremony, Shupe said he wanted to recognize D'Amato not only for his service to the town of Exeter but his service to his country in the Air Force. He decided to borrow a tradition of the Fire Department to give an American flag flown on the flagpole outside the public safety complex on the day of a fireman's retirement and begin a new tradition for police officers as well.

“I went to (Fire) Chief Brian Comeau to run this idea by him and between the two of us, we don't know if the Police Department has ever participated in this tradition, I always looked at it as a fire tradition, but Brian said, ‘That flag out front is not just the Fire Department's,' so I thank him for allowing us to participate in this tradition,” Shupe said. “I can't think of a better officer to start this tradition with than Dan D'Amato.”

D'Amato said he was honored to be the start of the new Exeter police tradition and would be placing the flag alongside his flag given to him by the Air Force following his military service.

“It came as a shock really, and to be the first one here (in this department) to receive one is awesome,” D'Amato said. “When I got out of the military, you get a flag when you retire that was flown over the capital, it's a real honor, so this is a great tradition to start here.”

Town Manager Russ Dean presented D'Amato with a commemorative clock to thank him for his years of service and said he appreciated D'Amato being a friend to all the high school kids he interacted with during his tenure.

“Dan is a consummate professional, he's set a great example in our Police Department. He's a mentor, a leader and someone who others look up to and he's been an all-around excellent officer,” Dean said. “Dan spent a lot of time at the high school and as a parent of children in the schools, I can't think of anything more important than having a presence out there. Dan's demeanor and his ability to carry himself in a way where he walks that line very nicely between being an officer and being a friend to the kids.”

D'Amato said in his retirement, he won't be getting out of the business of teaching and mentoring. He said he would potentially get into teaching beginner motorcyclists how to ride, which may entail taking a trip to Wisconsin to attend the Harley-Davidson Riding Academy to take an instructor certification course. He will also begin working part-time as a security guard at Great Bay Community College, where he said he'll look forward to interacting with a new batch of students.

D'Amato said with his newfound free time he would take a few days to get caught up on yard work and ride his motorcycle with the weather finally getting warm, but his additional leisure won't come without missing the men and women he worked alongside for more than two decades.

“It's the camaraderie; the guys, the girls. You come to work and you're with other people and I've been doing that for 40 years; the military is a really tight-knit group and this department is as well, so I'm going to miss that,” D'Amato said. “It's sinking in slowly, but for the next few days I'll wake up in the morning and grab a cup of coffee and work a few hours in the yard then get out on my motorcycle.”

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